In: Accounting
During Heaton Company’s first two years of operations, it reported absorption costing net operating income as follows:
| Year 1 | Year 2 | ||||
| Sales (@ $61 per unit) | $ | 1,098,000 | $ | 1,708,000 | |
| Cost of goods sold (@ $40 per unit) | 720,000 | 1,120,000 | |||
| Gross margin | 378,000 | 588,000 | |||
| Selling and administrative expenses* | 299,000 | 329,000 | |||
| Net operating income | $ | \79,000\ | $ | 259,000 | |
* $3 per unit variable; $245,000 fixed each year.
The company’s $40 unit product cost is computed as follows:
| Direct materials | $ | 9 | 
| Direct labor | 12 | |
| Variable manufacturing overhead | 4 | |
| Fixed manufacturing overhead ($345,000 ÷ 23,000 units) | 15 | |
| Absorption costing unit product cost | $ | 40 | 
Forty percent of fixed manufacturing overhead consists of wages and salaries; the remainder consists of depreciation charges on production equipment and buildings.
Production and cost data for the first two years of operatons are:
| Year 1 | Year 2 | |
| Units produced | 23,000 | 23,000 | 
| Units sold | 18,000 | 28,000 | 
Required:
1. Using variable costing, what is the unit product cost for both years?
2. What is the variable costing net operating income in Year 1 and in Year 2?
3. Reconcile the absorption costing and the variable costing net operating income figures for each year.